Sprinkling fence



June 14, 1960 GjSPElGHTS SPRINKLING FENCE 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug. 26, 1957 R 0 m w m 6. SPElGHTS SPRINKLING FENCE June 14, 1960 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Aug. 26, 1957 June 14, 1960 s, spasms SPRINKLING FENCE 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Aug. 26, 1957 INVENTOR.

Ga/e 506505145 United States Patent SPRINKLING FENCE Gale Speights, W. 3428 Walton, Spokane, Wash.

Filed Aug. 26, 1957, Ser. No. 680,330 Claims. or. 137-356) The present invention relates to improvements in a sprinkling fence.

The so-called chain link wire fence, which includes metal upright fence posts, a tubular metal top rail, and a woven wire barricade, has come into wide usage in recent years for residential, commercial, and agricultural purposes. In many-instances fences of this type are utilized to enclose areas such as lawns or fields which must be sprinkled, irrigated, or otherwise provided with water for the crop grown therein. In order to supply water to these enclosed areas it is presently necessary to utilize expensive sprinkling or irrigating apparatus. It is the purpose of this invention to utilize the existing tubular top rail of the fence as a water carrying sprinkler pipe, thereby doing away with the additional pipes or hose now commonly in use.

More specifically it is the purpose of this invention to provide a combination enclosure fence and sprinkler system which includes spaced apart upright fence posts, a tubular top rail supported on said posts, sprinkling devices mounted on said top rail at spaced apart intervals, and means for supplying water under pressure to said top rail.

A further purpose of the invention is to provide novel fittings for the top rail whereby it may be mounted to a post and connected to a water supply pipe alongside the post by the same member. I

A further purpose of the invention is to provide novel corner fittings for said top rail for securing two perpendicularly extending top rails to a corner post, and for joining said top rails in liquid communication.

The nature and advantages of my invention will appear more clearly from the following description and the accompanying drawings, wherein a preferred form of the invention is shown. It should be understood, however, that the description and drawings are illustrative only, and are not intended to limit the invention except insofar as it is limited by the claims.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a fence embodying my invention;

Figure 2 is an enlarged fragmentary elevational view of a portion of the fence, illustrating one of the sprinkler heads mounted on the tubular top rail;

Figure 3 is an enlarged plan sectional view illustrating the novel coupling member utilized at the corners of the fence;

Figure 4 is a perspective view of the corner coupling illustrated in Figure 3;

Figure 5 is a sectional view taken substantially on the line 55 of Figure 3; and

Figure 6 is a perspective view of the novel coupling member used to connect a water supply to the top rail and to connect the top rail to an end post.

Referring now to the drawings, I have shown in Figure 1 a chain link fence 10, which comprises a plurality of tubular top rail members 11, 12 and 13, each supported by a number of upright posts 14 driven into the ground.

2,940,456 Patented June 14, 1960 The top rail members 11, 12 and 13, and the fence posts 18 therebetween. According to my invention, I provide sprinkler heads '19 along the top rails 11, 12 and 13, at spaced intervals. I have shown in Figure 1 of the drawings three different types of sprinkler heads 19 which are suitable for my purpose. It will be understood that in a given installation, a single type of sprinkler head 19 can be used throughout the fence. The particular type of sprinkler head 19 used in any installation will depend upon the needs, and conditions existing at that particular installation. Any sprinkler head capable of receiving water from the delivery pipe and spraying it out over a large area is sufiicient.

As shown in Figure 2, the sprinkler heads 19 are supported at the upper ends of riser pipes 26, mounted on T-couplings 21 inserted in the top rails 11, 12 and 13. Shut off valves 22 are interposed in the riser pipes 20 between the T-couplings 21 and the sprinkler heads 19 to control the flow from the sprinkler heads 19. It will be appreciated that while I have shown a shut off valve 22 for each of the sprinkler heads 19, this may not be necessary in certain installations, and it may be sufiicient to insert shut off valves 22 in the tubular top rails 11, 12 and 13 to control a plurality of. sprinkler heads 19, or it may be sufficient to insert one main shut off valve in the water supply line for the tubular top rails.

As illustrated in Figure 1, each of the top rail members 11, 12 and 13 extend from one corner post 16 to another. In order to form the top rail members 11, 12 and 13 into a unitary water carrying system, it is necessary to provide means at the corner posts 16 to connect two perpendicular extending top rail members in fluid communication. To accomplish this, I provide novel corner couplings 23, best shown in Figures 3, 4 and 5. Each of the corner couplings 23 comprises ,two perpendicularly extending cap members 24 and 25 which have internally threaded portions 26 and 27 at their outer ends. The cap members 24 and 25 are connected together and held in perpendicular relation by a short curved tubular portion 28 which extends therebetween. As best shown in Figure 3, the tubular portion 28 joins the cap members 24 and 25 in fiuid communication with each other. The top rail members, such as those shown at 12 and 13 in Figure 3, are threaded into the portions 26 and 27 of the end caps 24 and 25, and are thus placed in liquid communication with each other through the curved portion 28. To support the corner couplings 23 to the corner posts 16, I provide the end caps 24 and 25 with axially extending ears 29 and 30. As shown in Figures 4 and 5, the car 29 on the end cap 24 -is offset upwardly from the center line of the end cap 24 and the ear 30 and the end cap 25 is ofiset downwardly from the center line. An upper clamping strap 31 is provided around the corner posts 16 and connected to the ear 29 by a bolt 32. A lower clamping strap 33 is provided around the pipe 16 directly beneath the clamping strap 31, and is secured to the ear 30 by a bolt 34. In this manner the corner coupling 23 is rigidly fixed to the corner post 16 to support the ends of the two tubular top rail members 12 and 13.

Water is supplied to the fence 10 from an underground water main 35 which extends outwardly from the water supply source to a point beneath the fence 10. A vertical connection pipe 36 is connected to the pipe 35 beneath the fence 10 and extends upwardly to a coupling 37 provided in one of the tubular top rail members 11, 12 or 13. Water is supplied through the connection pipe 36 to the 'top rail members 11,12 and 13, and through them a the'gatel8", afid-twoconnec'tion pipes 36. maybe extended upwardly on either side of the gate18 to supply water to the top rails ateach side thereof. 1

Thenovel coupling members 37, as.shown,,conn'ectthe water supply from the pipes 36 to the-top rails 11. They also connect the top rails '11 to the posts'l'l. 'Eachmem: ber'37 has one end closed and provided with an extended ear 3.8 which is connected to,a.clamping.strip39 which is like the clamping strips 31 and 33. "The clamping strip" 39 is bolted to the car 38 by the screw bolt 40 which tightens. the strip 39th the post 17. The lateral threaded portion 41 of the member 37 receives the pipe 36. When used only to connect a top rail 11 to a post such as 17, the "member 37 may have its portion 41 plugged by a stop plug 42. V It should be apparent from the foregoing that my invention provides a novel sprinkler fence which acts not only as a barricade to enclose an area of ground, but also as an efiicient sprinkler system to provide water for the enclosed area. By providing means for joining the existing tubular top rails of the fence in liquid communication, and by utilizing these top rails as the water carrying 'means for the sprinkler system, Ihave done. awaywith the expensive hose and pipes formerly neces-' sary.

It is believed that the nature and advantages of my invention appear clearly from the foregoing. 1 Having thus described my invention, I claim: 7 1. The combination with, a fence having upright posts and tubular top rail members, of terminal couplings at the ends of said tubular top rail members adjacent certain nection with the tubular member at one end and having nection withthe tubularmember at one end andhaving .the other end closed, an ear extending from'the closed end, and clamp means around the adjacent post secured to said ear, certain of the terminal couplings having lateral tubular projections thereon intermediate their ends, said tubular projections being joined to another tubular member extending transversely to the post coupled tubular rail member. g 7

3. Means for connecting tubular rail members and a corner post of a fence tmeaph :otherto support the rail members and to provide passage for water from one rail member to anotherrpa-st'said'corner-poshsaid means comprising a pair of hollow .ca-p members each having one end closed and the other end thereof openand threaded to receive a tubular-rail'member, said cap members having means thereon for attaching them to the corner post, and

. a tubular pipe section having one end joined to one cap member and the other end joined to the other cap member,=said tubular pipe section holding the cap members at an angle to each other and providing liquid passage from one cap member to the other.

V 4. The invention defined in claim 3, wherein the means on the capmernbers for attaching them to'the corner post comprise an ear projecting from the closed end of each the other end closed, an ear extending from the closed '7 cap member and a post clamp attached to each ear.

5; The invention defined in claim 3 wherein the means on said cap member for attaching them to the post com- ReferencesICited inthe file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 505,781 Vance Sept. 26, 1893 803,741 Carlson Nov. 7, 1905 2,155,080 Cornell Apr.;18, 1939 2,195,072 Bauer Mar. 26, 1940 2,528,369 Jensen Oct. 31, 1950 2,873,951 Helferman et al. Feb. 17, 1959 7 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,182 7 Great Britain May'26,1858

' OTHER REFERENCES Mechanix Illustrated, April 1955, page 147.

Popular Science, April 1957, page 236. 

